Snow
by Koigokoro-Love
Summary: Ed and Al go to an office Christmas party, but Ed's secret Santa doesn't get him a gift! Fluff, For Christmas, Ed/Roy, WAFF.


**Okay, be honest. It's my first yaoi fic, and it actually holds value to me. Explanation: I hate Hate HATE snow and I'm not that big of a fan of Christmas. I do however love Ed/Roy, and a mix of my boyfriends Christmas party and two other fanfic's are to blame for the w****riting of this fic, after one and a half years of writers block later! Enjoy, and don't forget to REVIEW!!! Honestly.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA and do not make money from this story.**

**Warnings: WAFF, Fluff, Christmas themed, yaoi (Ed / Roy), AU**

Snow

Snow. He hated snow. It was beautiful, yes, and pure white when it first fell, but he hated it. He hated the wet of the snow, how it got in your boots and froze your feet. He hated the cold of the snow, and how you always had to wear so many layers just to walk to work. He hated how it turned to ruddy brown slush when cars drove on it. There were a million and one reasons Ed hated snow and all of them ran through his head as he made his way through it to the Hughes' house for the staff Christmas party.

The party was going to be just a small occasion on Christmas Eve at Gracia's house for the office. Everyone had grown so close, and no one really had any family to celebrate with that night, except Armstrong. He would not be attending, although he had insisted on decorating to make up for it.

"Don't you just love the snow, brother?" Al said, skipping up to be beside him. Ed smiled at him. Ever since Al had got his body back he had been so curious. Almost everything intrigued him: the smell of Riza's horrible cooking, the feel of a wet dog, and the cold of the snow.

"It's so light brother! And it stings the moment it touches you, but it's a nice sting. It brings heat out of you wherever it touches skin. And it's so fun to play in. Don't you think brother? Isn't it fun?"

"I don't really like snow Al, you know that," Ed said. He hated to disappoint his brother, but he also hated to lie to him and he really hated the snow.

"Oh," Al said, wilting a bit at the news.

"But I like watching you have fun, even if it is with snow," Ed said, scrambling to make up for the disappointment.

That made Al smile, and they continued in silence the rest of the way, Al running a head and then falling behind as he played in the snow. When they turned onto the right street Ed had to run to keep up with Al. Al ran towards Gracia's lit up house in a fever of excitement – this would be his first Christmas since he got his body back. Ed was running for another reason – he didn't want to lose sight of his brother, and he didn't want to be left in the cold snow on his own.

They got to the door slightly out of breath, both grinning like fools. Riza was the one who answered the door, holding a glass of pink punch and wearing a pretty red turtle neck and a black skirt. "Come on in, you're late. What took you so long?"

"We walked," Ed said, taking his brown jacket of and shaking it to get the snow off before hanging it up.

"Well you should have said something yesterday! One of us could have driven you!" she said exasperatedly and he sighed in frustration. _A ride! That would have been perfect!_

"Don't worry Ms Riza, we had fun walking," Al said.

"Oh, well that's good for you darling. You're all red from the cold! It looks so cute," Riza cooed, confusing Ed for a moment because cooing is so very un-Riza-ish. Ed took another look at his superior officer and this time took in the slight redness to her cheeks. Well it was good to be pre-warned of the alcohol in the punch.

"Ed! Al! Glad you're here. Roy hasn't let us open any presents without you showing up, and I'm just itching to find out who my secret Santa was!" Havoc said excitedly the second he saw Ed enter the room. This made Ed chuckle, knowing exactly who Havoc's Santa was, and what had been bought by that Santa.

Riza pushed a glass of punch into his hands and whispered "try it, it's good," before disappearing to Gracia's side.

"Come on, sit here Ed. We need to pass out presents," Brenda said, patting the seat next to him. Havoc and Roy were already by the tree with a large canvas sack between them.

Roy reached into the sack and withdrew a thin package wrapped in blue paper with snowflakes on it. "Riza, it's for you," he said as he gracefully handed it to the almost drunk blond. She unwrapped it eagerly, a childish look on her face. As soon as she saw what it was she gasped, showing everyone a book.

"What is it?" Fuery yelled out, squinting.

"Volume five of _Mariah and the Midnight Murders._ But how did… I…?"

Gracia smiled mischievously. "You told me about it, and I told your Santa," she explained.

Riza blushed. "Thank you," she said humbly before taking another sip of punch.

The presents were handed out one by one. Al got a new pair of fur lined leather gloves, Brenda a large book of crossword puzzles and an arubix cube, Falmen got a child's game book called _I Spy_, Ed had given Havoc a romance novel, and Fuery had gotten a hat and mittens from Al, and the whole department had teamed together to make up a scrapbook of pictures of Maes Hughes for Gracia. It took a while for her to calm down, but the party continued in high spirits none the less.

Ed looked at the sack as Gracia was caught up in a million hugs from everyone. He had yet to receive his gift, and wanted it soon. He had already been given a small gift from Al – a figurine pig that he had made himself with Alchemy. It almost broke his heart to see that the canvas bag was empty.

He must have been the only one to notice because everyone went back to thank each other for the gifts, convinced that this person had given them that. Havoc was berating Riza about the romance novel – "I do _not _read girly books!" ­­_-- _as Riza read her novel in a corner and sipping her seventh or eighth glass of punch, completely ignoring him. Gracia and Al were looking through the photo book together, and Falmen and Brenda had switched gifts, much to the amusement of Falmen.

Ed sat in the same chair he had sat in while the gifts were being handed out, downing punch and watching people having fun with their new gifts. He didn't mean to be selfish, but it was hard not to be. It was annoying to be the only one without a present on Christmas.

"Not playing with your present, Fullmetal?" The deep voice of Roy Mustang said from behind him. _He sounds concerned_, Ed thought. He couldn't be sure though because of the amount of punch he had had. He should not be thinking about a forth glass. If he managed that he would turn out as drunk as Riza.

"No," he said moodily.

"Well, that's a pity. What was it you got again?" Now he was just sounding insensitive. That was more normal.

"I didn't," Ed complained quietly.

"Yes you did. I know you did. I gave it to you," he said, taking what had been Brenda's seat and leaning forward to look him in the eye.

"No, I didn't."

"Oh that's right! I have yet to give it to you!" Roy teased, standing up. "Come on, it's outside."

Ed rolled his eyes and followed Roy to the front hall. If he had been sober he would have noticed that everyone had their eyes on the pair, except Riza who was still absorbed by her book, and Havoc who was still yelling about his.

"There's nothing here Roy," Ed said impatiently, buttoning up his second coat.

"It's a little further away," he said, pulling Ed even further into the horrible snow covered world.

* * *

It was the most nerve wracking part of his life, walking down the twisted streets to the park where he and Maes use to sit in the spring. It was different in the winter, with the untouched white snow covering every inch of it. There was a lot of snow in the park, since no one went there in the winter. The benches were all covered, as were the trees. He used his Alchemy to clear the path enough to walk on, and led Ed to a bench under an unlit lamp and a tree.

It didn't take long for the scene to be perfect. Just a snap of the fingers and the lamp was lit, casting the perfect glow off the snow and the flakes that just started falling. The sky was clear enough to see the stars, and Roy watched as Ed looked around grumpily.

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to hate snow," Roy said.

"Don't know why you don't," Ed said, still glairing at the falling flakes.

"I just can't bring myself to hate it," he said as he cleared the bench and sat down. "It's too beautiful. I just… it's too perfect. It makes every moment warm, and every winter special. It's not even that bad Hardly affects my Alchemy as long as I remember to take my gloves off."

"I thought you were going to give me a present, not lecture me on snow."

Ed sat down, warming Roy's side. He took a deep breath, trying to work up the nerve. He could do this.

The cold and the air had helped to clear his head from the last few glasses of punch. As much as he hated the snow it was nice to be outside with Roy. Roy. The man was acting very strange. Almost as if he was nervous. Most of the cocky and confident air that bugged Ed so much was gone. It confused Ed, although it made him smile enough to know that Roy now trusted him enough to show another side to himself to him.

He and Roy had gotten closer since Al had gotten his body back. _That's a lie,_ Ed said to himself, _we're just the same as before, I'm just more honest with myself._ Nothing had truly changed in Ed's feeling to his Colonel Bastard except his honesty with himself. Now that his mind wasn't set on fixing things and not screwing up other stuff Ed was free to think about other things, like life. Like friends. Like more than friends.

He had always been attached to Roy, hate-filled rows and all, but he had never been able to admit to himself just how deep that attachment was until recently. He was still amazed that he could have denied his love for the man for so long. Even Al had seen it, although Ed had strictly refused to admit to his brother that he was gay until recently.

So, even though he was spending unnecessary time in snow, he was happy. Strange, but it warmed him to know that Roy was being less… asshole-ish.

"I thought you were going to give me a present, not lecture me on snow," he said, taking a seat next to Roy on the cold bench. He smiled inside, feeling the waves of heat come off the older man.

Roy took a deep breath. "Well, yes, I did."

"Well, I don't see one," Ed said bluntly. He wasn't being rude, or mean. He knew that Roy understood. He was nervous about Roy acting strangely, as well as still a bit tipsy, and to be honest it was hard not to be blunt with someone you know can be a total jerk.

"That's because it's in my pocket, squirt."

Ed almost rose to the insult. Almost. It was tempting, and he twitched at it, but he couldn't bring himself to break the calm mood that had just settled in. Instead he said "well, let's see it then," and stuck out his hand.

Roy drew out a card and handed it to Ed. Ed looked doubtful. "All this and it's just a card?"

"Open it!" Roy stressed. Ed could tell he was almost panicking and that made Ed even more intrigued. He thought about dragging on Roy's nervousness, but he had become so interested that he just couldn't wait to see.

Ed stared in shock as he opened the card. There was no writing, no pictures, nothing. Not on the outside or the inside. Just one smudge on the inside. That smudge was what made Ed stare. It was a smudge of brown lipstick in the shape of a kiss. In fact, it was a kiss. Someone had kissed the paper while wearing copious amounts of brown lipstick! But…. Ed's head had frozen, and not just from the drink or the cold.

He stared at Roy, mouth just slightly open, eyes wide open, and brain not open at all. Roy smiled at him. "Glad you like it," he said, "but that's only the invitation."

He jumped. Ed wasn't sure which one of them 'he' was, but one of them had jumped. Ed had wanted to jump. He wanted to have Roy's lips against him for real, not just as a picture. He wanted the lips he had thought about for so long against his, warming his frozen ones. And he knew that Roy wanted the kiss just as bad. He knew that Roy had been poised to jump, and had probably planed to jump, making it likely it was him. But it didn't matter who had jumped, Ed or Roy, the result was the same: both of them curled up in each others arms in the snow bank beside the bench, out of breath after a very passionate kiss.

Ed smiled at Roy, his cheeks flushed in the cold and half his face lit up by the lamp above them. Roy smiled back, his onyx eyes pools of golden light from the lamp light that was reflected there. He reached his hand around to wipe a stray snowflake from Ed's cheek and then moved in to kiss the spot it had been.

"You know, this is the most perfect moment in the world," Ed said.

"It's the snow," Roy said, smiling.

"You sure?" Ed countered.

"Positive," Roy confirmed.

"Not the kiss, or the company?"

"Well, it's that too, but what makes it the _most_ perfect is the snow."

For some strange reason, Ed smiled. It must have been the punch, but even now, years later, he still agreed: the snow made it perfect. It was the only time of his life that he found himself actually genuinely in love with snow.

**REVIEW!! **

**Every time I go away for more than a weekend I give my boyfriend a letter and a kiss like the one in the story (the kiss, there was no letter). I sometimes add other things like pictures, drawn or photo, and small trinkets to keep him busy when I'm not. Not like that you sick minded perv! Now review!!**


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